Refrigerator



lJ. A. HALE saw. R. RAMSEY.

` Refrigerator. A NO. 225,595.. Patented Mar. 716, |880. Figtl.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. HALE AND WILLIAM R. RAMSEY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,595, dated March 16, 18:80.

Application nieu January 2,1880.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JAMES A. HALE and WILLIAM B. BAMSEY, both of Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators; and we hereby declare the same to beV fully, clearly, and exactly described as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical sectional view of our refrigerator on line y y, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on the line m m, Fig. 1.

Our invention relates to that general class of household-refrigerators having an ice-box located in the upper part of the same, the interior of the refrigerator being cooled by the natural convective currents of air passing through the ice-box, and thence through the refrigerating-chamber; and it consists, mainly, in the arrangement of the interior of the refrigerator, the object being to secure the maximum refrigerating-space compatible with an adequate ice-box, water-cooler` or drip-pan, and air-chutes, and to so arrange these adz 5 juncts as not to impede the placing within or removal from the refrigerator of articles of food, &e., and incidentally to afford facility for cleaning the interior of the refrigerator.

`In the accompanying drawings, A A' are the usual inner and outer walls of the casing, having a suitable filling, such as sawdust or equivalent material, interposed, if desired; or the space between the walls may be, and by preference is, left empty. r

B is the ice-box, occupying the front upper portion of the refrigerator, and having side walls, b b, near the inner walls of the same, leaving air spaces or chutes I I between, as shown.

On ledges b b( in the ice-box rests the door E, which consists of perforated sheet metal,

corrugated, as shown, and provided with gut-r ters fj', leading from front to rear ofthe refri gerator. The licor E has a slight downward pitch to the rear. Above it is a grating, G, provided with transverse strips g g, upon which the ice rests.

Beneath the lioor E are a number of ledges inclined laterally, and having, also, a downward and rearward pitch. At their lower ends these ledges have upturned flanges e', and

the upper end of each ledge extends some distance over the flange e of the-next to the left. These upper edges are so located as to come beneath those portions of the corrugated floor E next adjoining the gutters j', and void of perforations, so that by no possibility can the drip fall on the edges of the ledges and run along their under side into the preservingchamber D.

Against the rear wall of the refrigerator, and at a point just beneath the ledges e, is secured the drip-receptacle or water-cooler C, which is enameled on the inside, and has a pipe and faucet, c, as shown.

In operation, ice being laid on the grating G, the adjacent air is cooled thereby, and descends through the perforations in the floor E,Ybetween the ledges e, and into the main chamber D. The warmer air thereby displaced rises through the chutes l, and in its turn descends through the ice, the directions of the currents being shown by the arrows.

Experience has demonstrated that descending air-chutes are neither necessary nor desirable, except, perhaps, in refrigeratin g butchers7 stalls or other refrigerators which require to be frequently opened. These descending chutes produce such a rapid ciriculation in the refrigerator as to result in a great waste of ice.

In that class of refrigerators which, like our own, dispense with the descending air-chute, the ice has heretofore been laid on gratings and the air passed through it and out at the bottom; but the difficulty was met, thatthe air would seek the freest channel and the ice would melt unequally. This evil we obviate by means of the perforated partition or oor E, which will not admit of the passage of a determined current of air through any part of the ice-chamber, but effects an equalization of the descending currents, resulting in a uniform melting of the ice and producing a practically uniform temperature throughout the device. 'Ihe arrangement of the parts is, moreover, such as to economize space and facilitate the charging of the ice-box, and the air-chutes -I I occupy aspace which could not conveniently be utilized as a part of the storagechamber or for any other purpose.

The drip-receptacle C is located at the back of the refrigerator, where packing or storage IOO space is less in demand than at the front, and access maybe had to it through the ice-chamber, so that the cold Water therein contained may be used for cooling bottled or hermetically-sealed goods. As the air, in circulating, passes directly in contact with the ice in passing through the ice-chamber, it parts with its moisture, maintaining a perfectly dry atmosphere Within the preserving-chamber.

What We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a refrigerator, of an open-bottomed ice-box having inclined and 

